I was curious about this, so here's a bit more detail.
Interest rates were quite high (and surprisingly variable, as a modern observer) in the early 1980s, peaking at almost 20% and spending a lot of time in the teens [1]. However, the median house price [2] was still low relative to median household income -- at the interest rate peak of 18.9% at the end of 1980, the median house sale price was 66k, and the median household income was 21k [3], for a ratio of about 3.1. In 2022 the median house sale price was about 450k, and the median household income was $71k [4], for a ratio of about 6.3!
I think the mortgage rate difference does mean the 80s were still worse if you took out a long mortgage at the given rates. However, 1) you could also save for much less time and buy a house with a smaller mortgage, and 2) there seem to have been a lot of since-closed loopholes [5] like assumable mortgages (from my limited understanding: you essentially take over the current owner's mortgage, along with its lower rates from when they bought house) that meant a lot of people were technically buying houses with much lower effective rates.
So ... I question the claim that the early 80s were easily as unaffordable as now.
Yes, and yet people bought and sold properties and those that held eventually saw their asset appreciate. And that’s my point - “Before all was the land…” is the start of many opening chapters on real estate, because oil, mining, timber, housing, commerce - it all ties back to this physical asset. It is innately an immovable asset thus it will always have value and that value will fluctuate (generally increasing…) based on its marketability and use. So sure - real estate is different in each decade, but overall the treatment of it as an investment has been true as long as there has been civilization. It ain’t a coincidence that retiring Roman soldiers were given land as thanks for their service.
